


your fire is burning deep in my soul

by xavierurban



Series: JayTim Month-ish 2019 [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Detective Comics (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Full Shift Werewolves, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Marriage, Murder, Non-Canonical Character Death, Pack Dynamics, Serial Killers, Werewolf!Jason Todd, Werewolves, all that said there's not actually a lot of action here, bet y’all can guess who, but with some angst because i can't function without it, implied sex, implied wolf-form sex, in case that squicks anyone, not an a/b/o fic, not jason for once, the waynes and the todds, think teen wolf dynamics when the terms come up, werewolf!tim drake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 20:09:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20315314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xavierurban/pseuds/xavierurban
Summary: On the eve of his wedding, Tim reflects on the circumstances that brought him to this point.JayTimWeek2019 Week 3: Supernatural





	your fire is burning deep in my soul

**Author's Note:**

> as i mentioned in the tags, this is not an a/b/o fic. alphas are the leaders of their packs, betas are all other pack members, and omegas are packless.
> 
> this is primarily a reflection piece (bc i bit off more than i could chew with some of my other works for the event, and this was the easiest one to snapshot), and i'm still not entirely happy with it due to how much i had to leave out, but i hope you'll all enjoy it nonetheless!
> 
> warnings for talk of violence and murder, as well as implied sex in wolf-form
> 
> title from wolves by one direction

Tim still remembers the first time he saw Jason Wayne (Todd, at the time), in the earliest hours of one cold January morning.  
  
Alpha Wayne, the head Alpha of Gotham, had called an emergency council meeting. Strictly speaking, Tim, a mere eight and a half years old at the time, hadn't needed to be there. But as the heir to the Drake pack, second only in Gotham to the Waynes, his parents had always preferred he accompany them to such affairs.  
  
He remembers everyone buzzing with anxiety, the scent of it cloying even to his young nose. It wasn't unheard of, to call such a meeting, but it was far from common, and no one knew what to make of it. The grim expression on Alpha Wayne's face spoke volumes as he stepped into the meeting chamber, flanked by the other members of his pack, as well as a boy Tim didn't recognize. He appeared to be about Tim's own age, and thin in a way that looked gaunt rather than naturally slim.  
  
Tim had scented the air, and while he knew without a doubt that the boy was a wolf, there wasn't even the slightest stir of familiarity in his scent.  
  
If he was from Gotham, he wasn't from any pack Tim knew.  
  
All eyes that were lingering on the unknown pup snapped to Alpha Wayne when he cleared his throat.  
  
"There's been a murder," he said, once all the attention had landed on him.  
  
There was stunned silence for a long moment that had felt to Tim like an eternity, and then, suddenly, everyone was demanding answers all at once. Some of the other packs seemed disgruntled to have had their sleep disrupted by something that, in Gotham, was painfully commonplace. Others, like Tim, knew better: a council meeting would never have been called for something so simple. Those wolves demanded an explanation, their panic and anxiety rising to even higher levels than before.  
  
Tim remembers how his father had placed a hand on his shoulder in an uncharacteristic show of comfort.  
  
Alpha Wayne roared for silence, and it fell instantly.  
  
"There are hunters in Gotham," he finally continued, and Tim had watched as the entire room stiffened, several wolves unable to keep fangs and claws from being unsheathed.  
  
Hunters. In _Gotham_.  
  
It hadn't happened in years, not since the murder of Alpha Wayne's parents, when the young Alpha had been thrust into command early and had made it his mission to form treaties with every known family of hunters. New treaties were made every year as new families rose up. Crimes by Gotham's pack members were punishable by their own court; hunters had no place to intervene.  
  
Hunters killing in Gotham was as good as a declaration of war.  
  
Tim remembers looking at the boy behind Alpha Wayne and catching the distinct scent of distress coming off of him. It hit him then that it must have been this pup's pack who were murdered, and that it must have been the whole pack, for him to have been brought there alone. It made Tim's heart ache, his own scent sweetening with sympathy.  
  
The boy seemed to shrink under the attention when Alpha Wayne beckoned him forward and everyone's gaze returned to him. The Alpha had put a hand on his shoulder, and tucked the boy into his side.  
  
"Willis and Catherine Todd of Park Row were brutally murdered in their home last night, and it's only by the grace of some higher power that their pup was spared," he'd said, and the boy had whimpered pitifully, "Jason will be under my care, while I work with the GCPD to investigate this atrocity."  
  
He hadn't said it, but the swell of protective anger that burst forth from him got the message through, plain as day. Jason had the backing of their Alpha, and any disrespect would not be tolerated. Prejudice remained strong in many of Gotham's oldest packs, but the Wayne pack was not one of them. Anyone who chose to look down on Jason for his lineage and raising would have the entirety of the Wayne pack to answer to.  
  
Tim doesn't remember much after that. He knows that Alpha Wayne had addressed people's questions and concerns, and that he'd implemented a curfew until they had more information. Until they knew if it was an isolated incident, it was best that everyone remained vigilant.  
  
That morning had been well over a decade ago.  
  
In the end, it had turned out to be a rogue omega, exiled by his pack and driven mad by the disgrace and solitude, using hunter methods to kill his victims simply for the chaos he knew would follow. Five more packs had been slain in the months before the killer was apprehended, all from Gotham's poverty-stricken East End.  
  
The omega wolf had called it a culling of those unfit for the blood that ran through their veins, and had gone to his grave laughing as the GCPD fired on him with silver-cased wolfsbane bullets.  
  
To the surprise of no one but the boy himself, Jason had been offered a permanent place in the Wayne pack when all was said and done. While it was unlikely that he would ever be pack Alpha, with Damian and Dick both ahead of him in the line of succession, he was still required to attend council meetings and other such affairs, and, suddenly, Tim found them all much more tolerable.  
  
As the Wayne heir closest to his age, Tim and Jason found themselves in each other's company a lot. More than that, Tim found that he _enjoyed _Jason's company, that it didn't feel forced or like an obligation the way it did with the pups of the other council members.  
  
At nine years old, Tim finally figured out what the best friend fuss was all about.  
  
They were inseparable, after that. Outside of school, you would be hard pressed to find one without the other. Together they had learned every inch of the Wayne and Drake properties, shedding their clothes and shifting to run the grounds at every opportunity. Their parents would watch them, sometimes, shaking their heads fondly at the sheer amount of energy the two pups had as they wrestled, and chased squirrels, and raced towards the forest behind their Manors.  
  
It was Tim's turn to be surprised when, years later, on his sixteenth birthday, Jason had bared his neck to him and then proceeded to kiss him senseless. It hadn't taken him long to realize that it was the logical progression for their relationship, and Tim dived eagerly into his first - and only - real romance.  
  
When he stopped to think about it, Tim couldn't believe how one horrific, traumatic night could have led them here, to this peaceful, unconditional love. Of course, he wishes Jason had never known the pain of losing his family, or the fear of hiding in that small closet, nothing but a few slats of wood separating him from meeting his own painful, bloody end, but he's also so grateful that Jason came into his life.  
  
That Jason is __his.  
  
He nuzzles closer to Jason, under Gotham's hazy night sky, and opens his mouth to rest sharp teeth gently against the other wolf's throat. Jason shudders beneath him, keening softly, and Tim rumbles low in his throat, pleased, and sated, and so damn content he thinks he could burn up from it.  
  
In the morning, Jason will finally be his mate in the eyes of human law, and will become a true member of the Drake pack, regardless of the fact that Tim's parents had accepted him as such years ago.  
  
If he were in his human form, Tim knows he would be battling anxiety and giddiness in fits and starts, but as a wolf, all he really feels is the steady thrum of how right this is. Jason's chest rises and falls beneath him, his scent thick and honeyed with drowsiness, and trust, and __love, and Tim can think of nothing better than spending the rest of his life providing for him.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i hope it didn't come across as too boring >.>;


End file.
